How I Finally Got Myself Running
Why Are Habits Difficult To Pick and Easy to Abandon?
Do I call myself a runner yet?
I have been running regularly for the past eight months.
But I am nowhere near to the numbers an average runner has.
I am slow even if I can run decently long.
It’s not the first time I took up running.
I have, In the past I abandoned my attempts in a few weeks to a few months.
My brain convinced me it was the right thing to do.
It said I am not fast, and waking up early is not worth it. It said I lack discipline.
And it reminded me of the futility of running. What would it give me anyway?
So I quit.
It’s a Deja Vu. I have quit other things too. Well, basic things like acquiring a skill, those awesome sounding-too much time commitment courses on Coursera, and sometimes books halfway.
I feel like I have had the same conversation with my brain in the past.
But I did not quit this time.
Why did you decide to do ____________?
Doing it because someone else does or expects is never a good reason.
But it’s not a bad start.
I started to discover for myself the running-high that my runner friends talked about. I still do not know if it exists, not yet.
And I started running as a way to lose weight. Because it sounded easier than not eating what I wanted.
But while I ran, and I asked “Why did I come down to run today?”.
My answers started shifting to how it made me feel right at that moment.
My usual answers turned out to be because it made me feel great (later, after the huffing-puffing was over), it gave me a mental clarity and it felt like an accomplishment right in the morning.
So, running basically made my day.
And I kept looking for that feeling of greatness.
And this is not only applicable to running.
A deep introspection and some crass honesty is all that’s required to not give up.
Think Small, Do Small
Most running Apps claim to start small. And they demand miles in the first run.
This time I started small. Just 5 min, 10 min, then 20 minutes. Right now I am at a very slow 45 minutes.
And it took me eight months to get here.
The same goes for all the Exercise Apps mushrooming on my plays tore which offers me beginner exercises that left me unable to walk properly for weeks.
My Takeaway from 2021 running log is not how slow I was, or how few kilometers I ran, but how many runs I did.
Big dreams don’t always need Big Effort, but many small ones
The Ritual Sandwich
I am a coffee person. I need my coffee before I can function.
Once I have had my coffee, I would, very slowly and reluctantly, get dressed, and put on my shoes.
I would leave my home, Start my guided run.
It took me all the effort and will power to not abandon mid-run too.
Slowly I observed a change.
Coffee meant getting dressed, and that means I need to go down for a run.
Once out, I ran through the finishing countdown.
My brain stopped involving itself into menial tasks I did everyday
My writing ritual involved a warm lighting with a cup of coffee with milk and sugar accompanied by some music which acts as white noise.
My focused work ritual involves a headphone, phone on silent and just the single application open on my laptop.
We all have rituals. And we have them for a reason.
Rituals ease our journey and bolts us into the desired frame of mind.
Collecting Laurels
Rewards are easy motivation.
But the whole and soul lies in what you want to reward.
In the beginning I rewarded myself for consistency.
Then I rewarded myself for consistency and endurance.
Then for endurance and speed.
I am yet to reward myself for the distance. But the first 60 min run, or the first 10k run do deserve rewards.
Sometimes it’s just enough to reward for showing up. And you will begin to show up more.
In Short..
We all have this thing we wanted to do, this goal we want to achieve. And yet we find ourselves unable to put in the effort, however badly we want it.
It’s the small things that matter:
- Make the Effort count, even if it moves you an inch towards your goal.
- Big is scary. Switch one big to a series of small efforts. Just show up everyday.
- Rituals are important. They catapult you into the right mental state.
- Design your reward system.
Picking up a commitment and sticking to it requires the same approach. Mine was applied to running, yours could be anything else that you want.
